Turkish Artist Kemal Tufan during the Instalation of “Keel” at the Peace River Botanical & Sculpture Gardens in Punta Gorda, Fla., June 2014.

On a rainy day in June 2014, I first visited the gardens to watch the sculpture called “Keel” installed by Turkish artist Mr. Kemal Tufan. The piece, which replicates a boat keel, has more than 20 individual pieces and the heaviest piece weighs 5,800 lbs. Because the individual pieces were so heavy, a crane was used to move each piece individually.

Instalation of”Keel” at the Peace River Botanical & Sculpture Gardens in Punta Gorda, Fla., June 2014.

Although more than 3 years ago, I vividly remember that day. Members of the local media were invited to attend because this will be a significant cultural attraction for the area. It rained (and the pesky bugs were out in full force) and only one reporter showed up, who I don’t think wrote about the day. I tried to rally more media – that’s my job – and the response was pretty much, “Call us when you’re open.”

Today, Phase I of the gardens, a beautiful, youthful 11 acres, is open. When fully developed, it will be 27 acres of lush landscape dotted with large-scale interpretive, whimsical and sometimes quirky, sculptures crafted by artists from around the world. The first and signature piece installed in the gardens is “Steel Palm,” by Boston artist Mr. Jacob Kulin. It was inspired by a 50 million-year-old palm frond fossil in the Tetrault’s private collection. It stands 18-feet tall and contains of more than a dozen individual pieces.

When I say “fully developed,” not every acre will be developed. Some will be left natural and now, visitors can walk along a boardwalk through a stand of mangroves which has three species of Florida’s mangroves, red, black and white. I enjoy this walk because a bit of it is naturally canopied by the mangroves. Another boardwalk leads by “Keel” and out over the Peace River to a gazebo.

The Garden Community Center houses a café, gift shop and gorgeous photography exhibit called Botanicals by Michigan artist Laurie Tennant, on display through March 2018. She captured her botanical images by visiting the gardens and setting up her own darkroom to process the prints. Linda Tetrault was over the moon when telling me about Laurie’s talents and Laurie told me from the time she met Roger to Oct. 20, 2017, the garden’s opening, it was a two-year process. Fifty percent from the sale of her images will go back to the gardens.

Originally from Buffalo, N.Y., a hiking trail led Jennifer Huber, aka: Solo Travel Girl, to a career path in tourism. She has worked in the tourism industry for more than 20 years including 10 years with a park management company in Yellowstone, Death Valley and Everglades National Park. She currently lives in Southwest Florida, and maintains this travel blog with the goal of inspiring others to travel alone, not lonely.